Monday, July 11, 2016

Current (and enduring) favourite subjects: giraffes, under the sea, dinosaurs, birds. The giraffe pictured is sick, with purple snot pouring out of her nose and pooling at her feet... So lovely!

she

She's been loving drawing for quite a while, but has recently become much more deliberate about what she creates (usually flowers). Here's a chalkboard that she drew on at playgroup this week. I did 3 of the flower heads, at her request, but the rest was her. She spent AGES doing the many, many stems (in a rainbow of colours) and tried very hard to make some flowers on top.

me

A friend and I decided we could be brave enough (together) to go along to a drawing meet-up in the CBD on the weekend - it just sounded too interesting to miss. It started in a cafe/bar where we could order food/drink while sketching a yoga instructor in lots of different poses. She then taught us some good stretches/poses for artists before we moved out into an alley to sketch some longer poses in a different setting.

b

B reported that, while I was at yoga/drawing, he and Little He spent a delightful rest time drawing together on the sunny veranda. Little He developed his regular repertoire while B drew a map of data points (or something similarly clever/confusing) for the new lounge room.

He helped me make the first fence heart when we arrived to set up, then became a penguin collecting icicles on snow mountains with his new friend.

she

When she wasn't busy/happy eating everyone else's food she spent time crafting with her friends (big and small). Despite being a bit sick she partied on well after the planned finishing time!

me

We organised Woolly Winter, a "school holidays event for all generations" which was held at our Community Garden on Thursday.

The lead up involved chatting with crafty neighbours, a letter-box drop and op-shopping for wool. I also spent a lot of energy (wasted, incidentally)trying to organise a coffee van to stop by. After 9 rejections I was out of options. NINE!

The day involved rugging up warmly, delightful company, garden exploring and beautiful woolly work! More than 60 people came along and learnt to knit, made pom poms and finger-knitting lengths and decorated the fence (some in neat hearts and some with a more abstract flair). The lollypop lady from our local school crossing (who lives in a retirement unit near the garden) gave me a big bag of knitted squares to use. Another local crafter and I started combining these squares and other goodies (from her mum's 30-year collection of knitted samples) to clothe the tall, bare tree trunks. This will be an ongoing project! As I don't have a picture of that yet, the above shows the garden gate boasting happy new hearts made on the day.

Friday, July 1, 2016

wePreparation for demolitionAs soon as we were given a tentative/vague start date, we started packing up half of the house into boxes, piled high in the spare room, and packing up the contents of the laundry and much of the yard. He helped his Daddy remove the pavers and, by having long daytime naps, She gave me a couple of hours each day to sort/pack inside.

Drawing on the walls destined for demolitionIn preparation for the interior demolition, we've been drawing on walls. It's been consuming much of our play time for the past month, and visitors are heartily encouraged to contribute.

Demolition in the yard Endless entertainment: machines, bobcats, cement mixers, mud, rubble, skip bins, jackhammers. Kids watch from their special viewing platform (the kitchen sink) in the mornings and pop around the back to check it out in the evenings.

Escaping demolition noiseHaving nap times at a friend's place for the week (to escape the NOISE) means that we get to pretend we have a cat, the gorgeous Billy. Little He happily spent a couple of hours each day doing puzzles/reading/craft with a furry black shadow for company. Little She arrived at their place each day, bursting with an abundance of enthusiastic affection to share with Billy before hopping into her 'special bed at Billy's place'.

Demolishing a lumpIt had been on my neck for 25 years, but, this year, a doctor finally wanted to cut it out. The stitches came out after 4 weeks and it's healing nicely. Just wish it had happened a couple of decades ago when it was still tiny!